Stirling cycle engine with common heat exchanger housing

ABSTRACT

A heat insulated chamber is provided for commonly housing a plurality of burner units of a Stirling cycle hot gas engine. A heat exchanger within the chamber preheats the combustion air. Cylinders are disposed so that cold gas connecting ducts need not cross and so that the elements may have common shapes.

United States Patent Torsten 1 1 June 24, 1975 [54] STIRLING CYCLE ENGINE WITH 2.664.699 1/1954 Kohler .1 60/525 COMMON HEAT EXCHANGER HOUSNG 2.8l7.95() l2l|957 Van Weenen 1 1 H 60/525 2.907.169 10/]969 Newton t v t 60/525 [75 Inventor: B0 Goran Torsten, Torstensson, 73 511 11 1969 Schwemin... 60/525 Ginstgatan, Sweden 3,527.04) 9/1970 Bush i i 60/525 3.546.877 12/1970 Beukerin 60/525 [73] Asslgnee: mmmandnbohge' Umted Surfing 3.802.198 4 1974 Grossmar? 60/525 AB & Co., Malmo. Sweden Filedi F l6, 1973 Primary ExaminerWilliam R. Cline [21] AppL 333 32 Assistant Examiner-Allen M. Ostrager Attorney. Agent. or Firm-Laurence R. Brown [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 19. 1972 United Kingdom 7802/72 1 1 ABSTRACT [52] U S C] H525 60/525 A heat insulated chamber is provided for commonly [51] 6 1/04 housing a plurality of burner units of a Stirling cycle [58] 50/525 hot gas engine. A heat exchanger within the chamber preheats the combustion air. Cylinders are disposed so [56] References cued that cold gas connecting ducts need not cross zmd so UNITED STATES PATE TS that the elements may have common shapes.

1.879.563 9/1932 Smith 60/525 6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Fig.3

SHE??? PATENTEDJUN 24 ms l STIRLING CYCLE ENGINE WITH COMMON HEAT IIXCHANGI'IR HOUSING This invention relates to a multi-cy'linder hot gas engine which is heated by a plurality of burner units.

Powerful hot gas engines often need a plurality of burner units for generating sufficient amounts of heat and for avoiding lengthy gas passages. Hitherto it has been common practice to provide each burner unit with a separate preheatcr unit in which the combustion gases deliver heat to the air to be used for the combustion.

The present invention is intended to provide an improved simple and compact powerful multi-cylinder hot gas engine.

According to the invention there is provided a multicylinder gas engine comprising a plurality of burner units arranged together with a heat-exchanger in a common heat-insulated chamber.

The scope of the monopoly sought is defined in the claims hereinafter. and how the invention may be put into practice is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which.

FIG. I symmetrical shows a vertical section ofan engine according to the invention. said section being taken along with line I I of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II II of FIG. I

FIG. 3 shows a vertical section of another embodi ment of an engine according to the invention. the said section following the line ll III of FIG. 4. and

FIG. 4 shows a section along the line I\/ IV of FIG. 3.

The engine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises eight cylinders I to 8 and eight regeneratorcooler units 9 to In. Each cylinder contains a piston I7 provided with a piston rod I8 acting through a connecting rod 20 on an engine crank-shaft I).

The cylinders I to 8 are disposed in a \/-formation. and the rcgenerator-cooler units 9 to I6 are mounted between the cylinders. A plane perpendicular to the axis of the crank-shaft I9 and passing through the axes of two of the cylinders I to 8 will also pass through the axes of two of the units 9 to 16. The engine is of the double-acting type and comprises eight cylinders arranged in two lines of four. each line of cylinders containing gas charges circulating only within the respective line of four cylinders and the adjacent four regenerator-cooler units.

The tops of the cylinders and regenerator-cooler units are provided with manifold connections 21 interconnected by arcuately-shaped horizontally-extending heater pipes 22. The heater pipes 22 are arranged in four groups. each group being heated by a burner 23. two of the burners 23 being shown in FIG. I.

The cylinders I to 8. the regenerator-cooler units 9 to 16. the manifold connections 2I. the pipes 22 and the burners 23 are arranged in a common chamber 24 which also contains a heat-exchanger 25. The walls of the chamber 24 are insulated to restrict heat losses to the exterior.

A blower 26 delivers air for combustion to a part 27 of the chamber 24. The said part 27 is partially delimited by a partition wall 28. The air delivered by the blower 26 is supplied to the burners 23 through a part 29 of the chamber 24 delimited by a partition wall 30. The combustion gases produced by the burners 23 will (all pass the pipes 22. give off some of their heat and How to the heat-exchanger 25 through a part 31 of the chamber 24 located between the two partition walls 28 and 30. The exhaust gases will leave the heatexchanger through a flue (not shown).

The working gas charge located below the piston 17 of cylinder I will be moved to and from the top of cylinder 2 through the regeneratorcooler unit 9. Likewise the gas charge located below the piston of cylinder 2 will be moved to and from the top of the cylinder 4 through the rcgeneratoncooler unit II. The gas under the piston of cylinder 4 is moved to and from the top ofcylinder I through the regenerator-cooler unit I0.

The gas connections for guiding the flow of high temperature gas are formed by the manifold connections 2| and the pipes 22. The gas connections for guiding the flow of low temperature gas are formed by connect ing ducts shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2.

The illustrated arrangement is symmetrical with respect to a vertical plane through the axis of the engine shaft 19 and has the advantage that the chamber 24 is compact.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 also comprises eight cylinders I to 8 and eight regeneratorcooler units 9 to If). but they are disposed differently from those in FIGS. 1 and 2.

According to FIGS. 3 and -I no cold gas connecting ducts (those indicated by dotted lines) need to cross each other. Also it is possible to use more units of identical shape in hcreas some functionally equivalent parts ot the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2 must be designed as left-hand" and right-hand" components). The advantages which are specific to the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 are obtained only with the disadvantage that the width of the top of the chamber 24 is somewhat larger. As can be seen the arrangement in such that a plane perpendicular to the crank-shaft 19 contains alternating cylinders and regeneratoncooler units angularly' spaced. and that the cylinder axes are located in four angularly spaced planes containing the axis of the crankshaft. each of the said planes containing alternating cylinders and regencrator-cooler units.

What is claimed is:

I. A multi-cylinder double-acting Stirling cycle hot gas engine of compact configuration having a single crank shaft comprising in combination. eight cylinders each with adjacent regcneratorcooler units arranged in two lines of four. means connecting each line of cylinders to contain gas charges circulating only within the respective line of four cylinders. and a plurality of burner units each disposed to heat a plurality of said cylinders.

2. An engine as defined in claim I having four burner units and corresponding sets of heater pipes arranged in a substantially square configuration.

3. An engine as defined in claim I having a heat exchanger in said housing disposed to vertically overlap said cylinders to thereby restrict engine height.

4. An engine as defined in claim I having a common heat insulated housing for all said burner units. a heat exchanger in said housing. means passing combustion air through said heat exchanger and means passing combustion gases through said housing and said heat exchanger to thereby preheat said combustion air.

5. A hot gas engine according to claim I with a crank-shaft and regenerator cooler units for each cy'lin der having structure arranging the parts so that a plane pcrpcndicular to thc crank-shaft of thc cnginc and passing through thc aw-s of mu cylindcrs ill also pass through the axes of two rcgcncratorcunlcr unitsi 6. A hot gas engine according tu claim charactcrizcd in that a plane pcrpcndicular to thc cnginc crankshaft contains alternating cylindcrs. and rcgcncraturill 

1. A multi-cylinder double-acting Stirling cycle hot gas engine of compact V-configuration having a single crank shaft comprising in combination, eight cylinders each with adjacent regeneratorcooler units arranged in two lines of four, means connecting each line of cylinders to contain gas charges circulating only within the respective line of four cylinders, and a plurality of burner units each disposed to heat a plurality of said cylinders.
 2. An engine as defined in claim 1 having four burner units and corresponding sets of heater pipes arranged in a substantially square configuration.
 3. An engine as defined in claim 1 having a heat exchanger in said housing disposed to vertically overlap said cylinders to thereby restrict engine height.
 4. An engine as defined in claim 1 having a common heat insulated housing for all said burner units, a heat exchanger in said housing, means passing combustion air through said heat exchanger and means passing combustion gases through said housing and said heat exchanger to thereby preheat said combustion air.
 5. A hot gas engine according to claim 1 with a crank-shaft and regenerator cooler units for each cylinder having structure arranging the parts so that a plane perpendicular to the crank-shaft of the engine and passing through the axes of two cylinders will also pass through the axes of two regenerator-cooler units.
 6. A hot gas engine according to claim 1, characterized in that a plane perpendicular to the engine crank-shaft contains alternating cylinders and regenerator-cooler units angularly spaced, and that the cyliNder axes are located in four angularly spaced planes containing the axis of the crank-shaft, each of the said planes containing alternating cylinders and regenerator-cooler units. 